Feinstein stuck in middle of union 'card-check' fight

AT ISSUE: CARD CHECK

Organized labor's highest legislative priority in Congress is the Employee Free Choice Act, commonly known as “card check,” under which a union would be certified if 50 percent of the workers sign cards. Currently, a majority vote in a secret-ballot election is required in most cases.

Arguments in favor: If the majority in a workplace wants to form a union, it should be allowed to do so. Under the current system, there are too many ways for employers to thwart the will of the majority.

Arguments against: Card-check elections will lead to coercion by union organizers by taking away employee privacy. The bill's mandatory arbitration provision would lead to government interference in private business affairs.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein is getting squeezed by business and organized labor over her neutrality on legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions.

Feinstein was a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, commonly known as “card check,” in 2007. But she is the only Democrat in the California congressional delegation who is not a co-sponsor of this year's bill, which is labor's top legislative priority.

The senator has expressed reservations about forging ahead with such a fundamental change in union-organizing rules during a deep recession.

“This is an extraordinarily difficult economy, and there are very strong feelings on both sides of the issue,” said Gil Duran, Feinstein's communications director.

Labor insists the economic concerns are misguided.

“She said she's concerned given the economic situation about making some of the changes that are proposed in this bill. But we've said very clearly to her and her staff that it's our belief it's going to help the economy because it will grow wages,” said Steve Smith, director of communications for the California Labor Federation.

“People don't have the money in their pockets to buy goods and services right now, and that's hurting business.”

Feinstein is part of a small group of senators led by Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa that is trying to come up with a compromise.

“I am working to find common ground between the needs of both business and labor in order to reach a bipartisan solution,” Feinstein said in a statement this month.

That ground is tough to find. Labor is wary of any changes in the legislation, and business, notably the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, maintains the differences on the issue are so great that there is little area for compromise.

Under the Employee Free Choice Act, a union bargaining unit would be certified by the National Labor Relations Board any time 50 percent of the workers signed cards.

It also has binding-arbitration provisions and stricter penalties for employers violating the National Labor Relations Act that business find draconian.

Under the present system, over which employers have much more control, 30 percent of the employees in a workplace can sign cards requesting a secret-ballot union election. If a majority votes for the union, the NLRB certifies it.

Currently, it is the employer's option to call a secret-ballot election or allow a union to be formed through the majority sign-up process. But a company can refuse to bargain with a union chosen through majority sign-up, even if every worker signed a card. Critics of the system also say businesses can maneuver to string out the election process.